Well it’s finally springtime and where I live in the mountains it was a long, snow filled winter. So, I am very ready for warmer weather and I think my two dogs, Maya and Chief, are just as excited. I am a nature lover so all of these activities are going to relate being happy with your pups in the outdoors. Without further ado, my top 5 best summer dog activities (that could also be great in other seasons):

#5 – Biking

Maya and Chief

Make sure when you go biking with your dog you really watch the temperatures, but biking is a great way to tire out your high-energy mutt. You’ll need to introduce your dog to the bike so be careful at first, but if your dog is used to off leash walks it should be a pretty easy transition. If you’re rugged mountain biking, be careful with the types of trails you take your dog on and realize that it’s hard to keep up
with a fast decent, especially in warm weather. However, getting out on a mellow trail and taking a cruise with your dog is a great way for both of you to get exercise at a pace more conducive to four legs.

#4 – Evening Walks

I love a good summer evening stroll. It’s after dinner, my belly is full and happy, and I could use a little movement. Grab your dog and head out for an enjoyable walk. The cooler nighttime temperatures will keep your friends tongue from hitting the ground and the evening chirps and noises are sure to please as always.

#3 – Hiking

Grab some food and water and head out for a hike for the day. Pile you and all your friend’s dogs in the car somehow for an afternoon of smelling flowers and chasing bugs. While our canine friends love to chase balls and roam around, they love nothing more than following us on an adventure. Go buy a dog backpack and fill it with water and supplies for the day. I really love the packs because while my dogs are extremely well behaved they have plenty of excitement and I feel wearing a pack slows them down and keeps them closer.

#2 – Camping

Set out for that hike with gear for a few nights or head out on a car camping trip. While you hang around the fire your dog can sniff out their surroundings and keep plopping their favorite toy in all of your friends’ laps, encouraging them for one more throw. As is normal with an active day, you’ll be tired early, but when you crawl in your tent you might find your buddy has passed out before you, taking up all the room!

#1 – Swimming

Well I don’t know about you, but swimming is one of my all time favorites and my dogs go absolutely crazy for it. It’s hot and they can’t sweat as much as humans do; what could sound better than a dip in the water? Not only is it refreshing and fun, just as it is for people, but it’s also an amazing workout that is very gentle on their joints. So, grab a stick, ball or whatever they love and chuck it into the water for my #1 summer dog activity!

What does your dog need to be for all of these?

Well behaved! A happy, active dog has to follow the rules to come along so you need to be sure to take the time and energy to train your dogs, especially when they’re younger. Expose them early to rides in the car, water, being off-leash and responding to voice commands so that they can earn your respect and have more responsibility.

About the Author
Cooper is passionate about his dogs, fitness and blogging. When he’s not playing with his dogs Maya and Chief he writes about Sono Bello, cooking, and a myriad of other topics. He’s also active with Sono Bello on Twitter and Sono Bello on Facebook.

Keeda encountered a kangaroo up close for the first time and, of course, felt the need to chase it, going “deaf” to my calls (aka ignoring me) in the process. She first bolted after a female kangaroo with her joey. We didn’t know where she went at first and I was starting to get worried, straying to look for her. Then I get a call from C saying Keeda is back with him.

Apparently he was standing there, keeping a lookout for her and suddenly hears these long “POOF — POOF — POOF” stamps against the ground. He sees the two kangaroos leaping through the bushes. There is a crashing, rustling sound behind them and whaddaya know – it’s Keeda, chasing after them.

When I got back there Keeda was so tired and out of breath that I thought she learned her lesson. We gave her water and moved on, on the lookout for any more kangaroos in case she takes up the chase again (though I was hoping she was too puffed out after the first time).

Unfortunately we didn’t see the big male in the bushes until after he moved. And Keeda was off again. This time I was really scared. This was a huge male, muscly and tall. I immediately went after Keeda, calling after her, but alas she was already gone. I chased after them, but they were too quick and disappeared from sight within seconds. Then everything went quiet. I was calling out to her with no response and then I hear this high pitched whimpering and yelping in the distance. My heart sank and I thought “This is it, this kangaroo turned around and clawed or kicked her to death.”

Keeda post-chase

I kept calling and searching for her, but by this time she was silent and I was fearing the worst. I came upon a little cliff/hill top and see Keeda trotting toward me, seemingly unhurt, puffed out more than before. She came up to me, nuzzled my leg, and crashed in the shade under a bush with this panicked look in her eyes. I checked her over, running my hands over her paws, legs, ribs, back, everything, and thankfully found no blood or tenderness. She drank a full bowl of water and we had to sit there and wait for her to get her breath back again.

C said he suspected the roo may have leapt down this little cliff-edge/sharp hill slope type of thing and Keeda may have followed. The drop was too high and sharp for a dog of her size and she may have fallen down, which is when she would have yelped. I’m not sure if this is what happened, but I suppose it’s possible. Thankfully after 10 minutes or so Keeda seemed good as new (if more tired) and we continued our hike at a slower pace, me making sure Keeda was always nearby and didn’t have a chance to chase after more kangaroos. I thought about putting her on the short leash I had with me, but by this time she was so puffed out and I doubted she’d have the energy to chase after a kangaroo again. Besides, she would never catch one and needs to learn that it’s a fruitless (and potentially dangerous) exercise eventually.

Keeda and I on the hike

Either way, after the male roo chase incident it was a good hike. However I noticed the ground was too warm and suspected Keeda wouldn’t have been too comfortable. Thankfully there were always large patches of shade on the trail with cool ground where Keeda could trot along comfortably, but if that shade wasn’t there she certainly could have burnt her paws. Next time I’m definitely either buying her dog boots for this reason or perhaps we will stick to the dog beach in the summer and do most of our hikes in the fall and winter, when it’s cooler.

Has your dog ever encountered a kangaroo? How did he/she/you react?

Stay safe on your hikes – watch out for kangaroos!

Some photos from the trip:

And a couple of videos:

So we tried the Better Pets & Gardens dog wash. This is much more effective than trying to wash Keeda by myself in the yard. Keeda, of course, hates baths and is not amused:

You Enter dog wash area (which has a gate) with your dog. Then, unlock actual door to the wash, get dog to jump inside (or put it in). Drop your coin into the washer (which you are given upon payment). There’s a dial on the machine that lets you choose from different wash options (like Shampoo, Rinse, Conditioning Rinse, Flea and Tick rinse…there might be more, but I’m not sure). There’s an extendable hose you hold in your hand that spits out whatever mixture you selected on the dial. The machine also has High and Low blow drying options. If your dog is the type to get nervous and try to jump out of the wash, there are chains to clip him/her in. I take Keeda’s collar off when I wash her, but she has jumped out before. She doesn’t exactly like getting baths. Stupid hoomans, washing off her dog smell!

Here is how Keeda gets washed at the Better Pets & Gardens dog wash:

• I start off with a regular rinse. I rinse her off for maybe 15 seconds
• Then, I switch to the Shampoo option and Shampoo the heck out of her for maybe 2-4 minutes
• Keeda attempts to leap out of the wash tub several times throughout this ordeal. She succeeds maybe once or twice and put back inside. She eventually gives up
• Once this is finished, I rinse all of the shampoo off thoroughlly with the Conditioning Rinse. This takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute



• I then rinse her off again with the regular rinse (eg. water), for good measure. Another 30 seconds to 1 minute
• By this time I still have about 4-5 minutes left, which I use to dry her off with the blow dryer (the first time we did this I had to use the Low setting as Keeda hated the sound, but the second time she was able to tolerate it on High).
• I then have maybe 30 seconds left over, which I use to quickly wash her collar
• And we’re done!

Keeda ends up smelling clean and fresh for the the majority of the week. Even my hyper-sensitive boyfriend is actually able to play with her or be in the car with her without sneezing, or getting asthma.

Here are a couple of videos of Keeda being washed and blow-dried. They are unedited and quite long, so feel free to skip through (and ignore the sad music, it was playing in the store…why? I have no idea)

Keeda after her bath, getting out of the car:

Now, here are some changes and improvements I’m working on for 1 Fit Mutt.

Improved article submission

One thing I have been getting is a lot of article submissions. Unfortunately most of these are just plain old spam completely unrelated to dogs. I’ve decided to fight spam and make the article submission more organized by having people register before they can submit an article. Registration is quick an easy – you just enter your username and email address. A password is sent out to you (which you can change when you log in), and then you can access your dashboard to submit your own post (which means article) to 1 Fit Mutt for review – with images, links, and everything. Check out the article submission guidelines to get started!

Dog business & website directory

Still on the to-do list is an improved website directory system. Currently the 1 Fit Mutt dog site directory is updated manually (which is why I’ve been so behind on adding new submissions). I’ll be working out an automatic directory system which will allow me to just approve or decline submissions with the click of a button instead of having to edit each category page by hand. Existing listings should be ported over, but those who are not yet accepted might need to resubmit – I apologize for the inconvenience, but it just needs to be done! And it will be a much more efficient system in the end.

Dog fitness photo gallery

I will soon be setting up a photo gallery for visitors to upload photos of their dogs exercising, playing, training, participating in a sport, and other similar activities. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite photos and maybe down the line we can start awarding prizes to the best shots.

Contest sponsors wanted

We have a lot of contest ideas brewing in our heads for the site – but we need prizes to make it happen! If you’re willing to donate your dog related product or service (or want to make a monetary donation) toward our prize pool, please email me at info at 1fitmutt.com to enquire about 1 Fit Mutt’s sponsorship options.

These are just some of the things that are going on behind the scenes. I don’t want to talk about some of the other projects we have in the works as it would be premature at this stage, but look out for more updates in the future!

Here are some things you should keep in mind when considering whether your dog is ready to run its first race:

Ask the organisers if it’s ok

You might not really care what other runners think about you bringing your dog to a race, but it’s important to check with whoever is organising the run not only out of respect, but to make sure that you don’t get asked to remove your dog from the race on the day. Personally, I think that asking the organisers of the race if it’s ok for you to participate with your dog is the responsible thing to do. They are holding the event and they should be able to decide whether or not they want a dog there.

I emailed the Western Australian Marathon Club (WAMC) this morning asking them to allow us to participate in their upcoming 4km New Years Eve Run. I’m patiently waiting for their reply and really hope that they say yes, but if they don’t agree I’m not going to push it and will respect their decision.

Don’t bring a troublemaking dog to a race

If you know you dog is going to be overly boisterous and cause trouble or inconvenience the other runners at the event, teach it to run politely next to you before entering it in a race.

Keep your dog on a leash during the race

You must have control of your dog throughout the entire race. Keep your dog on a leash and make sure that it doesn’t venture out too far and poses a risk to the other runners. You don’t want someone to trip over the leash and hurt either themselves or your co-runner.

Monitor your dog

You and your dog may run the same distances as the race every day, but if your dog is running in a crowd of people with new smells, sights, and sounds it can become excited and tire out faster or just become overwhelmed. Keep an eye on your dog throughout the race to make sure that it’s not looking unwell. If your dog starts to look fatigued, too nervous, or overwhelmed – pull out of the race.

Start toward the back

When I run Fun Runs by myself I normally start somewhere in the middle. If WAMC allows me to run with Keeda in the event I mentioned earlier, I will start toward the back – closer to the prams and slower runners to make sure that the faster runners aren’t inconvenienced by having to run around me and my dog. Once you’re a bit farther away from the crowded starting line and the crowd thins out if you’re finding yourself wanting to pick up the pace you can always overtake and work your way up anyway.

I’m happy to say that Keeda is now the ideal weight and is looking much healthier. Her endurance and energy levels have also improved greatly and she’s much more active in general. Here is a before photo of her, and a current photo next to it:

Before - Keeda was one fat dog

After

After

On a different but dog exercise related note, I got Keeda a frisbee a few days ago at Better Pets & Gardens and she’s already doing really great with learning how to catch it. She knows the “Catch” command for tennis balls and toys and such, so we’re building on that. What I did first was tell her to “Get” the frisbee while it was in my hand, so she’d latch on to it like she does a stick. Then I started almost throwing it, but still not allowing it to fully leave my hand. Then we moved on to the “Catch” and Keeda can now catch the frisbee at very short distances. We’re hoping to increase the distance bit by bit. I’ll try to get a video of her awesome frisbee catching skills somewhere down the line.

Keeda did very well – she heeled perfectly, got along with other dogs, sniffed, and just had a great time. We finished the 5km distance in no time and then it was time to check out the various booths and tents that the Million Paws Walk sponsors and RSPCA set up. There were so many great stalls set up. Keeda and I browsed and attended a dog behaviour seminar at the Vetwest booth. I was wearing my 1 Fit Mutt shirt and got quite a few questions about what it is I do and about the site.

In the end we strolled over to the stage and found that there was a dog show contest happening, with the presenters announcing different categories for people to enter their dogs. We got there toward the end and I entered Keeda in the Weirdest Looking Dog category just because I wanted to go up there and parade around with all the other entrants . Entry cost $2 and that was my last bit of cash so unfortunately it meant I missed out on the next category – best trick. If we’d known that one was coming up I’m sure we would’ve won, Keeda has some great tricks up her sleeve .

Anyway, overall it was a great day, although I’m not happy with the online registration costing $15 at first, but when I went to register online this Friday the price jumped up to $20! I did read that registration would be $20 on the day, but Friday was not the day of the walk and it just seemed like a bit of an underhanded tactic.

I’ll be drawing the winners of the two dog books from those who contributed to the RSPCA through the 1 Fit Mutt fundraising page at the beginning of next week, so keep your eyes peeled and thank you so much to everyone who’s contributed.

Check out some photos from the 2010 Perth Million Paws Walk below:

Set up plastic cones in a row and get your dog to weave through them. Or do the same with vertical poles, like they do in dog agility. As your dog gets more and more flexible and gets better at weaving through the cones, place them closer together to make it more challenging.

Jumps

Make some jumps out of PVC pipe and teach your dog to go over them. I wouldn’t recommend doing this until your dog is at least 1 year old (or sometimes even older, depending on the breed). If you have a puppy, you can put pipe or bits of wood onto the ground and get your pup to step over them.

Crawl

Get your dog to crawl under instead of over a jump. See how low it can go!

Balance ball

Get a balance ball for your dog (the kind that sits flat on the ground with a spherical upper side). Teach your dog to stand on it. It’ll improve their balance and strengthen their legs.

Walking across a plank

Teach your dog to walk across a plank. When your dog is still a puppy you can teach them by getting a solid wooden bar and placing it on the ground like you might do with a jump (except it’ll probably need to be a bit wider). Teach your dog to walk across the bar. As your dog gets older, you can raise the bar and teach your dog to jump up or down to walk across the plank.

These are just some dog exercise ideas to mix things up a bit. Sometimes a dog exercise routine can get boring for you and your dog – trying new things can rekindle your interest.

SUPER FIT FIDO CLUB UNLEASHES NEW FITNESS PROGRAM FOR CANINE COUCH POTATOES

NEW YORK, NY, April 14, 2010 – Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions among the human population, and our four-legged friends are right next to us on the fat couch. Super Fit Fido Club™ (SFFC), a new canine fitness program, is offering New York City dogs a great workout in a fun, energetic setting, using controlled exercises that are easy for dogs, and their owners, to follow.

SFFC Founder Gail Miller Bisher designed the program using the same principles seen in the world of competitive dog sports fitness training, canine sports medicine and veterinary physical therapy/rehabilitation. The training curriculum was developed to help dogs lose weight, improve overall heart health, flexibility, increase endurance and provide mental stimulation. Proper physical conditioning is a key component to achieving a Healthy Canine Lifestyle™.

“Super Fit Fido Club was created to encourage dog lovers to help their pets live longer, healthier and happier lives through fun, low-impact canine fitness programs,” said SFFC founder Gail Miller Bisher. “The choices we make directly affect the quality of life our dogs enjoy. If we choose to get our dogs the exercise they need to stay healthy, their quality of life improves exponentially.”

With 77 million canine pets in the U.S. today, 45 percent are suffering from being overweight or obese. The consequences of leading such an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle are the same as they are for humans, ranging from lack of energy to more serious complications such as shorter life expectancy and debilitating and costly health issues, including arthritis, heart disease, respiratory problems and diabetes.

Bisher, a skilled dog trainer and handler with more than 30 years of experience has seen firsthand the benefits to having a healthy dog. “I’ve physically conditioned top winning dogs my entire life. It only seemed natural to use that passion and knowledge to help other owners give their pets the best gift of all – a longer, healthier life,” Bisher added.

Super Fit Fido Club currently offers two classes, depending on your dog’s level of fitness:

Fit Fundamentals is the beginner class, which includes low-impact, medium-energy exercises to safely start your dog on a path toward a healthier body type.

Super Fit is for intermediate dogs with at least a moderate level of fitness. The emphasis is on maintaining fitness and stimulating your dog’s mind and body in a fun, participatory group workout.

Classes being Tuesday, May 4, 2010, and will be held Tuesday-Saturday each week. Early morning and evening classes are offered to accommodate working dog owners and to ensure the safety of class participants. Dogs should be at least 6 months of age and generally under 7 years of age or in good physical condition. Dogs do not need special training to enjoy and benefit from Super Fit Fido Club, only a willingness and commitment towards getting healthy. SFFC strongly recommends dogs be examined by their veterinarians before beginning any physical regimen.

To learn more about Super Fit Fido Club or to register for classes, please visit www.superfitfidoclub.com.

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Super Fit Fido Club was established in 2009 with classes beginning in 2010. SFFC has developed fitness programs and classes that teach dog owners how to become their dog’s personal trainer for life. The mission is to help dogs live longer, healthier lives by recognizing the importance of regular exercise and fitness training. SFFC is a sole proprietorship and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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